i came to dance: track lengths part 1

September 14, 2010 · by · in ,

Really, I did. But I also came to do science, dammit. When I started DJing, tracks were 6 to 10 minutes long or so. Now they’re 3 to 8 minutes long. This is obviously very dependant on genre, but it seems like almost all DJs are moving through music faster. So, I did some research.

The first section references tracks from the amazing charts in Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. Track times are from discogs or wikipedia, using the original single whenever possible. Each club has the average of the five tracks I chose at random, its date and location, and then the five tracks. You’ll be surprised:

The Loft // 6:12 (1971-1980, NEW YORK)

  • James Brown – Give It Up & Turn It Loose: 2:45
  • Sylvester – Over And Over: 9:27
  • Atmosfear – Dancing In Outer Space: 9:24
  • Prince – Sexy Dancer: 4:18
  • Stevie Wonder – All I Do: 5:06

Paradise Garage // 5:42 (1977-1987, NEW YORK)

  • ESG – Moody: 5:01
  • Loleatta Holloway – Love Sensation: 6:33
  • Marshall Jefferson – Move Your Body: 10:00
  • Grace Jones – Slave to The Rhythm: 4:20
  • MFSB – Love Is The Message: 2:40

The Warehouse / The Music Box // 6:00 (1977-1987, CHICAGO)

  • Indeep – Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: 5:40
  • Chaka Khan – I’m Every Woman: 3:42
  • Phuture – Acid Tracks: 12:12
  • Mr. Fingers – Can You Feel It?: 5:45
  • Liquid Liquid – Optimo: 2:41

The Roxy // 5:55 (1982-1983, NEW YORK)

  • Afrika Bambaata – Planet Rock: 6:25
  • Babe Ruth – The Mexican: 5:45
  • Grandmaster Flash – The Message: 7:14
  • Donna Summer – I Feel Love: 5:53
  • Talking Heads – Once In A Lifetime: 4:19

The Hacienda // 6:25 (1986-1997, MANCHESTER)

  • 808 State – Pacific State: 3:52
  • Inner City – Big Fun: 7:39
  • Mantronix – King Of The Beats: 5:58
  • Orbital – Chime: 12:52
  • Rhythm Is Rhythim – Strings Of Life: 7:23

Shoom // 5:46 (1987-1990, LONDON)

  • A Guy Called Gerald – Voodoo Ray: 4:27
  • Fingers Inc – Distant Planet: 6:30
  • Ralph Rosario – You Used To Hold Me: 6:28
  • Ten City – Devotion: 6:48
  • U2 – I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For 4:37

To summarize: No more than sixty seconds difference, on average, in 25 years of dance music. This astonished me. I thought for certain that track lengths would be huge in during disco, shorten during house and hip-hop, and then stretch again during the summer of love. Wrong.

If you want to make a great dance record, it should probably be six minutes long. If you want to be a great DJ, you should probably play tracks of different lengths.

But what about the last 15 years, you ask? Patience. More data will come tomorrow.